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The Revival of the “Hundred Flowers” Campaign: 1961*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Dennis Doolin
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Extract

For the past year (especially since last March), the Chinese Communist leadership has attempted to revive the “Hundred Flowers” campaign which, Party statements notwithstanding, ended in June of 1957. Yet this revival, and the “blooming and contending” which has issued from it, is basically different from the fierce, unabashed criticism heard briefly four years ago. In 1961, the Party is seeking what it had expected in 1957: academic contention and the gratitude of non-Party intellectuals for a small, measured relaxation—not political criticism. Party leaders have long been aware of the need to secure the co-operation of China's disenchanted intellectuals if industrialisation is to go forward at a rapid pace. However, current overtures are more studied and conservative than was the case in 1957 and, as such, reflect a more realistic Party assessment of its popular support. The differences between the 1957 “Hundred Flowers” and the revival are further shown by: 1. Party emphasis on ground-rules for the present campaign; 2. The strict separation of academic discussion from political discussion and ideological contention; 3. The response of the intellectuals.

Type
Recent Developments
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 8 , December 1961 , pp. 34 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1961

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References

1 “Party,” as used below, will denote the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

2 See, for example, the two speeches of Premier En-lai, Chou in the People's Daily, (Jen-min Jih-pao), 01 30 and February 1, 1956.Google Scholar (People's Daily hereafter cited as JMJP).

3 The January 20 communiqué of the CCP Central Committee's Ninth Plenum stated that nearly 10 per cent, of the population did not support the Party line. See Peking Review, No. 4, 01 27, 1961.Google Scholar

4 Date of publication of the admittedly revised text of Mao's On The Correct Handling of Contradictions Among The People. However, the six criteria listed therein were not in the speech as originally delivered on February 27, 1957. See Doolin, Dennis, “Hundred Flowers”: Mao's Miscalculation (Stanford University Studies in International Conflict and Integration, 03 17, 1961).Google Scholar

5 Mao, op. cit.

6 JMJP, 09 25, 1960.Google Scholar

7 Ibid. Compare this with Li's stand in 1957: “To enable the democratic parties to play their fullest role, they must enjoy independence, freedom and equality” (JMJP, 05 7, 1957).Google Scholar “We desire uninhibited contending, frank criticism, and criticism without reserve” (JMJP, 05 15, 1957).Google Scholar

8 Joint message of greetings to Chairman Mao from the six democratic parties, New China News Agency (NCNA), Peking, September 17, 1960. See also Miss Ho Hsiang-ning, Chairman of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee in the Peking Kuang-ming Jih-pao (KMJP), 08 16, 1960.Google Scholar

9 Wu Han, historian and university professor, KMJP, 02 25, 1961.Google Scholar

10 Wu Fu-heng, Vice-President of Shantung University, KMJP, 03 29, 1961.Google Scholar (Emphasis added.)

11 Li Wei-han, JMJP, 05 7, 1957.Google Scholar

12 Teh, Hsiao, “Why We Should Boldly Bloom,” Chung-kuo Ch'ing-nien Pao (Chinese Youth Newspaper), 05 1, 1957.Google Scholar

13 P'ing, K'e, “Flowers From the Greenhouse Can Be Pretty But Delicate,” Hsueh-hsi (Study), No. 102, 01 2, 1956.Google Scholar

14 NCNA, Peking, 04 27, 1957Google Scholar; also, Li Wei-han, op. cit.

15 Wu Fu-heng, op. cit.

16 KMJP coverage of recent activities of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, January 12, 1961.

17 “Firmly Uphold the Policy of Letting a Hundred Flowers Bloom and a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend in Academic Research,” Red Flag, No. 5, 1961.Google Scholar (Emphasis added.) The word “positive” is intended to make it clear that criticism of the Party and Marxism—a “negative” aspect of the 1957 “Hundred Flowers” campaign—is forbidden.

18 KMJP, 04 1, 1961.Google Scholar Chang has been a prolific eulogist of Mao and the Party during the revival of “Hundred Flowers.”

19 NCNA, 05 15, 1961.Google Scholar

20 KMJP editorial, March 15, 1961; also, see Wu Fu-heng, op. cit.

21 Ta-k'un, Wu, “On ‘Meetings of Immortals’Google Scholar and ‘Contentions Among A Hundred Schools of Thought,’” KMJP, 03 18, 1961.Google Scholar

22 Ibid.

23 Chang Kuo-fan, “Party Leadership is the Basic Guarantee for Successful ‘Meetings of Immortals,’” KMJP, 05 16, 1961.Google Scholar

24 KMJP, 03 15, 1961Google Scholar; also Chang Kuo-fan, op. cit.

25 Chin, Yu and Ch'i, Chiao, “Concerning ‘Meetings of Immortals,’”Google ScholarJMJP, 05 16, 1961.Google Scholar

26 n.a., “Promote and Foster the Marxist-Leninist Academic Style,” Shanghai Chieh-fang Yueh-k'an (Liberation Monthly), No. 5, 05 1961.Google Scholar A critical, well-researched analysis of the “meetings of immortals” is T'ang Ming-chieh, “An Examination of the Communist ‘Meetings of Immortals’ Brain-Washing Technique,” Taipeh, Fei-ch'ing Yueh-pao (Bandit Intelligence Monthly), 06 20, 1961.Google Scholar

27 See, for example, KMJP, May 15, 1961; also Peking Review, No. 21, 05 26, 1961.Google Scholar

28 KMJP, 01 3, 1961.Google Scholar

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid., February 10, 1961.

31 Ibid., January 3, 1961.

32 NCNA, 05 15, 1961.Google Scholar

33 Wu Han, op. cit.

34 KMJP, 04 1, 1961.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., February 7, 1961.

36 Yu Chin and Chiao Ch'i, op. cit.

37 Wu Han, op. cit.

38 Reuter, Peking, 09 11, 1961.Google Scholar